Ministry of Justice

Brixton Prison

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government by how much the number of prison officers at HMP Brixton has been reduced as a percentage since May 2010.

Lord Faulks: Information on the change in the number of full time equivalent band 3 to 5 prison officers in Brixton between 31 May 2010 and 31 March 2015 is shown in the table below. Table: Number of Full Time Equivalent Officers in Brixton by Officer Grade, 31 May 2010 - 31 March 2015Officer Grade31 May 201031 March 2015% ChangeBand 3-5 Officers210140-33 Brixton was re-rolled from a Category B local prison to a Cat C Resettlement prison in July 2012. Resettlement prisons operate differently to local prisons and require fewer staff, therefore the staffing requirements in Brixton reduced when it was re-rolled. Further savings were made when Brixton went through the New Ways of Working staffing model. The staffing levels are in line with a national benchmark for a Category C prison. All figures in the above table have been rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. The database itself is dynamic however, and where updates to the database are made subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

Freedom of Information

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to amend the rules regarding freedom of information.

Lord Faulks: It is vital that we ensure that the advice that civil servants give to Ministers of whatever Government is protected so that civil servants can speak candidly and offer advice to ensure that Ministers do not make mistakes. There has been a worrying tendency in our courts and elsewhere to erode the protections for that safe space for policy advice. There is no contradiction between making sure that we give civil servants the protection they deserve and also ensuring that the data—for example, the amount a Government Department spends—is more transparent than ever.

Probation

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are recording victim liaison referrals from the Community Rehabilitation Companies to the National Probation Service.

Lord Faulks: The National Offender Management Service HQ has asked Victim Liaison Units in the National Probation Service to provide details of the number of victim liaison referrals which they receive from Community Rehabilitation Companies.

Ministry of Justice: Cost Effectiveness

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the breakdown of the extra £249 million savings in the Ministry of Justice’s budget announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Lord Faulks: The Ministry is committed to playing its part in the government's deficit reduction plans and delivering significant savings for the taxpayer. Following the Chancellor's request to find additional in-year savings, we have put together a package that will enable us to drive efficiencies across the department. These savings will reduce the cost of justice to the taxpayer whilst creating a justice system that reflects the needs of its users.

Brixton Prison

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many days on average prisoners at HMP Brixton spend outside their cells.

Lord Faulks: Every prisoner will have a period out of the cell each day. The actual amount will depend on whether the prisoner is fully engaging in the regime; his level on the Incentive and Earned Privilege (IEP) Scheme (a prisoner on the basic level will have less time out of the cell but if attending work will get a minimum of 9.25 hours); and, whether they are subject to any disciplinary action. Enhanced Category C offenders will get an additional session out during the evening so will get 11.25 hours out of cell. A Standard Category C prisoner engaging in the regime could expect to be out of their cell for an average of 10.25 hours each weekday and Category D prisoners 12.5 hours. At weekends this would be 7.5 hours for both categories. Weather permitting all prisoners are entitled to a minimum of 30 minutes in the outdoors every day.

Brixton Prison

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many assaults on staff were recorded at HMP Brixton in each year since 2010.

Lord Faulks: The recorded number of assaults on staff in HMP Brixton in each of the calendar years 2010 to 2014 are as follows: 20102011201220132014HMP Brixton4149461211 NOMS is committed to running safe establishments and is working hard to reduce levels of violence in prisons. Violence of any kind in prison is wholly unacceptable and we treat any assault extremely seriously. We have introduced a new protocol between NOMS, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Police that will ensure that when there are serious assaults on prison staff, the perpetrators will be prosecuted unless there is a good reason not to do so.

Brixton Prison

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the safety of prisoners at HMP Brixton.

Lord Faulks: Prisoners are risk assessed before being allocated to HMP Brixton. On arrival each prisoner will have their cell sharing risk assessment reviewed before they are allocated to a cell. For any prisoner arriving who is subject to self-harm, monitoring procedures will be reviewed. All incidents within the prison are monitored and recorded. Violent incidents are monitored by time, location and the cause, if known. Concern about individual prisoners or the stability of any unit will be reported by an intelligence report. These are monitored daily by the Duty Governor, and Brixton is required to report stability levels to the Regional office on a weekly basis. Self-harm issues and violent incidents are considered by the Head of Safety and by the monthly safer custody meeting. This meeting reviews any serious incident of self-harm or death in custody. The Health & Safety manager is responsible for monitoring H&S issues and there is a monthly H&S meeting chaired by a Senior Manager. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons report on the safety of Prisons, and the NOMS Internal Audit team audit safer custody procedures.

Employment Tribunals Service: Fees and Charges

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to appoint an independent expert person or body to evaluate the impact of employment tribunal fees on access to justice for people of limited means.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the terms of reference of the proposed review into employment tribunal fees with regard to avoiding any appearance of bias.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the proposed review into employment tribunal fees will evaluate the impact of the scheme on weak and unmeritorious claims.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the proposed review into employment tribunal fees will evaluate the impact of the scheme on strong and meritorious claims.

Lord Faulks: This review will be carried out internally by the Government. There are no plans either to appoint an independent expert or to review the terms of reference. The review will consider all relevant factors and we intend to announce the outcome later in the year.

Prisoners: Ethnic Groups

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the consequences of increasing disproportionality of black and minority ethnic young people in HM Prisons for future social cohesion.

Lord Faulks: The government is committed to making sure the criminal justice system is fair and just and recognises that continued work is needed to understand the experience of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) young people in the criminal justice system. The Youth Justice Board is working with a wide range of organisations, including youth offending teams, to address the over-representation of BAME young people in the justice system.

Ministry of Defence

Syria: Armed Conflict

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what military or logistical assistance they plan to give the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units defending Kobani; and whether they now plan to join the United States in mounting aerial bombardment of Daesh military targets in Syria.

Earl Howe: Whilst the UK has not given specific military or logistic assistance to the fighters of People's Protection Units in Kobane, the UK is a major contributor to the wider global coalition working to counter ISIL across Iraq and Syria, which has assisted the Kurdish force to liberate and defend the area.Whilst UK intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft have been deployed over Syria, the Government has made it clear that it would seek further Parliamentary approval before UK aircraft conducted air strikes in Syria, unless there was a critical British interest at stake or a need to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

Home Office

Police National Computer

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what access the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has to the Police National Computer; and which other charities or voluntary bodies have similar access.

Lord Bates: The RSPCA has access to the Police National Computer (PNC) via the ACRO Criminal Records Office. ACRO provide a bureau service on behalf of a number of non-police prosecuting agencies.The only charity that has direct access to the PNC is the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Police: Cameras

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many police officers in England and Wales they expect to be equipped with body-worn camera technology by the end of 2016.

Lord Bates: PCCs and chief officers make the decisions on what technology is procured and how it is used by officers at a local level. It is not for the Home Office to set targets or expectations. It is right that PCCs and their forces are free to invest in technology that aligns to local priorities and addresses the specific challenges they face. The majority of police forces are either already using Body Worn Video (BWV) on a day-to-day basis, or are in the process of rolling this technology out to their officers. The Home Office does not hold information as to how many officers are equipped with BWV. As part of the 2014/15 Police Innovation Fund (PIF), the Home Office awarded a total of £4m to eight bids relating to the roll-out of BWV. We supported the Police ICT Company to bring these eight bids together, with Nottinghamshire Police developing a BWV procurement framework, which is now available to all forces. Other forces either using, or considering the use of, the framework include: Merseyside, North Wales, Bedfordshire, Hampshire and the MPS. The value of PIF bids for BWV for 2013/14 was £1,567,625. Police forces also procure BWV outside of the Police Innovation Fund as part of their own digitisation programmes.

HM Treasury

Revenue and Customs

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the recent closure of the Euston and Lambeth office of HM Revenue and Customs, how many centres remain in (1) London, and (2) the United Kingdom as a whole, where a member of the public can obtain a face-to-face meeting with a revenue official.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: HMRC currently have no walk in centres in any part of the United Kingdom.   Following public consultation, from June 2014, HMRC introduced a new service for customers who need extra help to get their taxes and entitlements right. This replaced the network of walk-in Enquiry Centres. The service can be accessed in a number of different ways and detailed information can be found on Gov.UK.   Where a face-to-face meeting is most appropriate, a new team of mobile advisers will arrange to meet our customers at one of the 336 convenient locations in the community throughout the country, or at their home if a mobility difficulty exists.

Revenue and Customs

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether large numbers of the public are unable to get through to HM Revenue and Customs by telephone to obtain help with their tax inquiries; and, if so, what steps they are taking to address this.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) accepts that its performance was inconsistent during 2014-15 and it has recently outlined actions taken to improve customer service. These include recruitment of additional staff and investment in new technology.   HMRC has allocated £45 million, supporting the recruitment of an additional 3,000 customer service staff to answer calls and deal with customer correspondence. The department is also moving around 2,000 additional people from other parts of HMRC temporarily into customer service roles to support the tax credits peak.   Details of HMRC telephony performance, including average waiting time, is published quarterly on GOV.UK.

Government Departments

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the number of inquiries from the public being addressed to (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has changed over the last decade, and whether the provision of staff to attend to them has changed proportionately.

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, given the importance they place on the public's access to information, what formula they use to gauge the number of officials they need to have on duty at the main inquiry points of (1) HM Revenue and Customs, (2) the Home Office, (3) the Ministry of Justice, (4) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (5) the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to ensure that a call gets individual attention within (a) five, (b) 10 , and (c) 20 minutes.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: The information requested is not held centrally.   Detailed information on the staffing and performance of individual Government Departments is contained in their Annual Report and Accounts, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

European Fund for Strategic Investments

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the implications for the United Kingdom of the establishment of the European Fund for Strategic Investment; and whether the financing of the scheme will lead to increased United Kingdom contributions to the European Union budget.

Lord O'Neill of Gatley: The regulation is clear that the establishment of the European Fund for Strategic Investments is fully consistent with the terms of the multiannual financial framework, as secured by the Prime Minister in 2013 which delivered a real terms cut to the seven-year EU budget for the first time.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they decided not to nominate a United Kingdom candidate for the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The UK strongly supports the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) against Women and it is committed to advancing women’s rights. We are fully committed to the CEDAW process and are fully engaged with the UN and the Committee. We regularly consider nominating a UK national for election to the Committee, but have not yet done so under this present government. UK nationals are well represented on other UN treaty monitoring bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Department of Health

College of Social Work

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they did not respond to the request for financial support from the College of Social Work.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Government was approached by the College of Social Work (the College) in March to discuss their financial situation for 2015-16 and beyond. As a result the College initiated an internal review of its functions and business model. The subsequent report demonstrated that even with the proposed level of Government funding, the College would be running at a loss. The Government has contributed £8.2 million to the college since 2009. The financial health of an organisation is a key factor in the decision to award Government Grant funding. In line with HM Treasury rules (Managing Public Money), the Department would not continue to provide Grant funding to any organisation that is deemed to be financially unsustainable. Any funding provided in 2015-16 is to ensure an orderly transfer of its Government funded work to other bodies.

Social Workers

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve the quality of social workers.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Government is committed to continuing the existing social work reform programme. This includes taking forward work from Professor David Croisdale-Appleby and Professor Sir Martin Narey’s reviews of social work education (published in 2013).   In support of developing the social work profession, the Government is currently in the process of establishing “Teaching Partnerships” which are intended to give employers a much stronger say in what is taught on social work courses. Teaching Partnerships will also ensure social workers have the most up to date skills needed to provide support to the most vulnerable in our society.   Further investment is also being made in the area of support and delivery of social work entry and induction programmes - Frontline, Step Up, Think Ahead and the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment. These programmes are designed to attract the best graduates into social work and giving them access to high quality training.

Care Quality Commission

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the motion passed by the British Medical Association to the effect that the Care Quality Commission is not fit for purpose.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and monitors, inspects and regulates services to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.   Effective regulation by CQC is vital in ensuring the public received care of the highest standard. The new system of CQC inspections give the public clear information on the quality of their local general practice (GP) services. Underpinned by recent legislative changes, the CQC’s inspections include specialist inspectors, clinical and other experts and people with experience of care. Every CQC inspection results in a rating on a scale from outstanding to inadequate against five key domains. Far from not being fit for purpose, the CQC is providing an objective judgement on the quality and safety of GP practices. The CQC’s inspections of GP practices have found that one in seven are not delivering the care that patients have a right to expect. These findings are crucial in identifying areas for improvement in those surgeries that are not delivering the high standards of care that people deserve.

NHS Foundation Trusts: Private Finance Initiative

Baroness Manzoor: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many NHS foundation trusts have uncompleted Private Finance Initiative schemes (1) under £100 million capital, and (2) over £100 million capital, as at the end of 2014–15; and how many of each ended 2014–15 with a financial deficit.

Lord Prior of Brampton: ‘Uncompleted’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes are those which are under construction ie they have not yet become operational. Two NHS foundation trusts have uncompleted PFI schemes, both over £100 million (capital value). One of these trusts had a financial deficit at the end of 2014-15 financial year.

Dermatology

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to act on the recommendation by the independent investigation into the loss of dermatology specialist services at the Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust that Health Education England consider increasing the number of consultant dermatologists.

Lord Prior of Brampton: In response to the independent report, Health Education East Midlands has led on the development of a local action plan aimed at the preservation and development of dermatology services in Nottingham. Health Education East Midlands facilitated a meeting on 15 June 2015 of dermatology consultants and nurses from Nottingham University Hospital and Circle Nottingham. This was a productive meeting and considered the best approach to working arrangements which would provide a good quality service for patients and training opportunities for supporting and developing consultants.   It is locally recognised that there is a need for an expansion of dermatology training numbers. Health Education East Midlands will input into the investment and workforce plans developed annually by Health Education England (HEE).   There have been no meetings between the Government and HEE about the independent report.

Dermatology

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Health Education England about the independent report into the loss of dermatology specialist services at the Nottingham University Hospital Trust.

Lord Prior of Brampton: In response to the independent report, Health Education East Midlands has led on the development of a local action plan aimed at the preservation and development of dermatology services in Nottingham. Health Education East Midlands facilitated a meeting on 15 June 2015 of dermatology consultants and nurses from Nottingham University Hospital and Circle Nottingham. This was a productive meeting and considered the best approach to working arrangements which would provide a good quality service for patients and training opportunities for supporting and developing consultants.   It is locally recognised that there is a need for an expansion of dermatology training numbers. Health Education East Midlands will input into the investment and workforce plans developed annually by Health Education England (HEE).   There have been no meetings between the Government and HEE about the independent report.

Eating Disorders

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to reduce waiting times for people seeking treatment for eating disorders.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Autumn Statement 2014 announced increased funding of £150 million over the next five years to improve services for children and young people with mental health problems in England, placing a particular emphasis on eating disorders.   NHS England is leading work to develop new access and waiting time standards for eating disorder services. It is anticipated the new standards will be introduced from 1 April 2016.

Mental Health Services

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for the implementation of the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat; what procedures are in place if action plans are insufficient; and who is responsible for improving the quality of action plans that are judged to be insufficient.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The implementation of Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat action plans is a matter for local areas, each of which has signed a declaration stating that local police, health, local government and other partners will be jointly responsible for improving crisis care for people with mental health needs in their areas.   By May this year, every area in England had published a local crisis care concordat action plan. Before publication, these were each reviewed jointly by the Department and the mental health charity Mind, to make sure that plans were of sufficient quality. In particular, the Department expected plans to address the specific requirements for crisis services set out in NHS England’s The Forward View Into Action: Planning for 2015/16. The Department and Mind worked closely with local areas to help them make refinements and improvements to their draft plans before publication. These action plans are all considered subject to continual review and improvement, and Mind is currently working with local areas to follow up the suggestions for even further improvements that were made at the time of publication.

Mental Health Services

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria NHS England uses to determine whether a clinical commissioning group mental health transformation plan is acceptable; and who is accountable for ensuring the delivery of such transformation plans.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Local Transformation Plans were proposed in Future in Mind (March 2015). The aim of these plans is to bring together local commissioners from the National Health Service, local authorities and schools, and have them clearly set out how they will make progress on child and adolescent mental health. NHS England and the Department are working with partners jointly to produce national guidance to support the development of local transformation plans. The expectation is that NHS England will publish the guidance in early July. Clinical networks have been working locally to support joint planning. NHS England and partners will be developing further resources and support over the summer which will be available both to clinical commissioning groups and partner organisations to build on their initial plans in the medium and long term to achieve the ambition set out in Future in Mind.   In the interim, NHS England has written to all clinical commissioning groups encouraging them to work with their partners from across the NHS, public health, local authority, youth justice and education sector. This letter states that a bespoke assurance process will be developed for 2015-16, with integration within the mainstream NHS planning guidance process from 2016-17 onwards.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the outturn funding figure for mental health services in 2014–15; and what is the forecast for 2015–16.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The outturn figures for mental health funding in 2014-15 are not available.

Nurses: Training

Baroness McDonagh: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many nursing training places were available in each year since 2000.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The following table shows the number of pre-registration nursing places (degree and diploma courses) that were available for each year since 2000.   YearNurse training places2000-0119,4602001-0220,6682002-0321,9492003-0423,5532004-0524,9562005-0624,5202006-0722,9642007-0821,5692008-0921,7322009-1021,3372010-1120,3272011-1218,0692012-1317,5462013-1418,0562014-1519,2062015-1620,033   Source: Data provided to the Department of Health by the commissioners of pre-registration training   In December 2014, Health Education England published their Workforce Plan for England which includes their planned Education & Training Commissions for 2015-16.

Pancreatic Cancer: Nurses

Lord Aberdare: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all pancreatic cancer patients have access to a clinical nurse specialist.

Lord Aberdare: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the capacity of imaging services available to pancreatic cancer patients across the National Health Service, including computerised tomography scans.

Lord Prior of Brampton: NHS England has a published service specification for pancreatic cancer which clearly defines what it expects to be in place for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective pancreatic cancer services. This service specification has been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe core and developmental service standards.   Patients being treated at cancer units should have access to an upper gastrointestinal cancer nurse. All district general hospitals should have such a person in post. If the patient is transferred to a cancer centre they should then have access to a pancreatic nurse specialist. This person should see every patient and become their key worker.   Patients with suspected pancreatic cancer are usually first investigated by an ultrasound scan. If this shows biliary dilatation, or anything else suspicious, the patient should then be sent for a pancreas protocol computerised tomography scan which is the best investigation for identifying pancreatic cancer.   Increasing the capacity of diagnostic and imaging services is clearly recognised as a priority for the National Health Service and it is has been raised as a key issue by the independent Cancer Taskforce, as well as by the Cancer Waiting Times Taskforce. We expect a new cancer strategy to be published this summer which will set out the strategy for the system for the next five years and will include consideration of the whole cancer pathway, including the capacity of diagnostic services.   In addition, NHS England is testing various approaches to new models of care which could potentially deliver improved access to diagnostic services for cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer.

Diabetes: Depressive Illnesses

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what emotional and psychological support is available for people with both diabetes and depression.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, Diabetes in adults quality standard, sets out that people with diabetes should be assessed for psychological problems which should then be managed appropriately.   Talking therapies, provided through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, are increasing access to appropriate, evidence based services for people suffering from depression and other mental health problems.

Immigrants: Infectious Diseases

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether records are kept on the proportion of new arrivals at immigration centres who have communicable diseases.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Healthcare in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) in England is commissioned by NHS England.   Each of the IRCs has a primary healthcare service provided on site. The range of healthcare provision typically available includes initial health screening and risk assessment, including routine treatment of evident infection and active case finding for diseases commonly found among detainees including pulmonary tuberculosis, blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections (if indicated by the initial assessment).   IRCs currently operate under the Detention Centre Rules and Operating Standards for the purposes of health screening and access to a general practitioner (GP) targets for initial healthcare screening and assessment which means all detainees to be seen by a nurse for an initial health assessment within 2 hours of admission and to be seen by a GP within 24 hours of admission (which may vary on assessment by competent nurse). Any health problems identified, tests or treatments prescribed and their outcomes are recorded on computerised health informatics systems in IRCs (e.g. SystmOne) and information can be shared between prisons and IRCs.   IRCs, like prisons, are required to notify Public Heath England Centres’ Health Protection Teams of cases or outbreaks of reportable diseases. This information is collated at national level by the Health & Justice Team.

Liver Diseases

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when Public Health England's programme of work on liver disease will be published.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Public Health England’s liver disease framework will be published in autumn 2015.

Hepatitis: Drugs

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS England provides patients with hepatitis C access to new drugs approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence without delay, and to ensure that NHS England continues to assess new technologies based on cost-effectiveness rather than affordability.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance.   In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners, including NHS England, to make funding decisions based on the available evidence.   Commissioners are required to have in place clear and transparent arrangements for local decision making and for considering individual funding requests taking into account patients’ clinical circumstances.

Innovative Medicines and Medical Technology Review

Baroness Gardner of Parkes: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what opportunities will be available to participate in the Accelerated Access Review announced in November 2014 as "The Innovative Medicines and Medical Technology Review" for (1) the public and patient groups, (2) medical charities, (3) academics, (4) researchers, and (5) other interested parties; and when they expect it to report.

Lord Prior of Brampton: In order to inform his recommendations, the independent chair of the Accelerated Access Review, Sir Hugh Taylor, will be seeking views from a variety of stakeholder groups, including patients and their carers, medical charities, academics and researchers, as well as industry, the National Health Service and key arm’s length bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England. We have agreed a systematic engagement approach for these groups to ensure they all have the opportunity to input. A workshop involving representation from all these stakeholder groups was held on 2 July, and the review team is asking umbrella organisations and trade bodies to support it in continuing to reach a wide audience by holding a series of engagement events throughout the summer; these events are currently being planned. The review’s website is also being developed to include a crowdsourcing platform to allow these groups, and the wider public, to participate.   We expect the report of the Accelerated Access review to be submitted by the end of the year.

Myeloma

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the National Institute of Health Research Technology Assessment programme to publish initial findings from its assessment of the benefits of antibiotic prophylaxis and its effect on healthcare associated infections in myeloma patients.

Lord Prior of Brampton: This trial is led by the University of Birmingham. The project is recruiting ahead of schedule and expects to reach its target of 800 in the near future. The target was to do so by the end of November 2015. Publication of initial findings is expected in 2017.